Besides torpedo practice (when I was the japanese) what do you guys use long island for? This early in the game she can't operate by herself and survive. Given my lack of Carriers... I was thinking ASW near the west coast.

Looks like you could have a great shuffleboard tournament on her! As for ASW, you would need a highly [70+] ASW trained airgroup first, before putting her in a perilous zone where there are known subs. I have tried various types of LBA doing ASW at the 50 exp level and they never attack anything, even with search aircraft spotting the subs. Personally, I think the Aircraft Transport role fits best, of load her up with fighters to cover amphib TFs. Or borrow some of Hermes' Swordfish and stage a "Taranto" type raid at Truk!

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

That big Japanese carrier/amphib group I thought was headed to Kodiak yeah no. He steamed right past it and is sitting south south east of Seward. I forget what the line of death is for the American side, but he has to be perilously close to it.

That being said he has made landings and taken attu and udak. He landed something like 12-thousand troops at Adak. Adak did not fall as I just dropped a regiment there about 3 weeks ago with a ton of supply that is good news bad news because when he takes it he will have a ton of supply and a level 3 airfield. Sigh...the hits keep on coming.

My biggest concern is where he is going with all those carriers and associated ships. He is about to run out of steaming room to the east. Could he be about to land at Seward and march north To Anchorage.

Egads Im soooo screwed :-).

The Royal Navy missed out on those destroyers off Australia. I moved them within striking range of Port Hedland...he has a bunch of cruisers and landing ships there and maybe I can take a poke at him before his two flattops descend on me and bury the Royal Navy. I know its dumb, but I'd love to exchange carriers with him and as I recall British carriers can take a punch (unlike American).

We will see.

I also am holding off my temptation to send my two remaining carriers north to tangle with him. With all his naval forces so far east it would be easy to get between him and Tokyo.

My other thought is now would just be the most perfect time to strike him at Kwajalein. I'd likely only be dealing with bettys. But That's the sort of thing that led me to the name carrierbane. It's very tempting though.

Knowing exactly where all his carriers is almost worst then not knowing :-).

Despite appearances I consider this a very good thing. My opponent is getting bored and over expanding. Lord knows I have done that enough through the years. We all know that you can't sustain a supply line to Alaska with any giant amount of Japanese troops forever, even in scenario 2. One could say I have him exactly where I want him. Needless to say I have sent as many subs north as possible. Soon the torpedoes will actualy start to explode on contact.

His heavy naval forces can't stay on station forever. And when they depart, Rob time begins.

My biggest concern is where he is going with all those carriers and associated ships. He is about to run out of steaming room to the east. Could he be about to land at Seward and march north To Anchorage.

You might get some CAP up north and guard the aircraft factories around Seattle. City bombing will not activate the LOD. Only LCU landings will do that.

Birds already covering Seattle. Thanks though. I have hit a point in this game where nothing he does surprises me anymore. Just trying to hunker down till 43. I am kicking around using destroyers as single ship raiders around guadalcanal to keep his interest there. Both my carriers are in Pearl for refits at the moment, so I will still out of trouble with them. The RN is back at Perth though I will probably use the carriers to run troops and supplies up to Geraldton.

My forces at Adak continue to hold. He didnt bring enough troops to that party...no doubt I will see a second division make a landing any moment now.

He is still very passive over Burma. I have been pounding Mandalay unmolested. Mostly to give my lads experience.

I am working on getting more troops to Akyab and using the level 3 field to strike Rangoon where he has in the neighborhood of 32 thousand troops and 100 fighters hanging out doing nothing.

This marks my return there after he has begun to scale back in Northern Australia.

I figured he had to be backing off in the center considering all the troops on the move at broome and everywhere else he is...he can't be strong everywhere. I intend to continue to march north until I find resistance.

I am now strongly leaning towards creating some raider groups to strike at Lunga. I now have P38s in the area so I will be able to cover my naval forces in the area. Further, Luginville is just about a level 4 air field now. Then I unleash the bombers on Lunga.

I caught him! I have quite a few submarines patrolling Northern Australia and I caught an amphib group on its way to Port Hedland a few days ago. I rushed the RN north and took station just east of Exmouth. Sure enough he began disgorging even more troops on top of those poor brits fighting to defend the port. And in went the FAA.

In two strikes during the day I sank 5 transports, causing over 1600 casualties. And damaged several other ships. He was moving the 55th combat division in to help with his siege at Port Hedland. They are now a tad understrength.

As overextended as his combat forces are. His carriers can't be everywhere and Im taking pokes at him when I feel I can. I got away with this one. I doubt the next time he sends troops to western Australia they will show up sans air support so I'm not likely to do this again.

I also am going to begin to experiment with Burma. From my various recons. He has not one single bomber on the ground in the theater. Im just trying to think how best to take advantage of that. It makes sense. He has been bombing the hell out of China with Helens. He has MBs at Darwin. I assume when he finishes the repairs at Koepang (he destroyed the airfield taking it) He will make it a Nell/Betty base and Im willing to bet Adak will receive its share of bombers to help defend his ill gotten gains in Alaska. He, despite appearances, is limited in the amount of squadrons he can deploy. And he has to be spread fairly thin.

He did land more combat troops at Adak. I'm afraid my regiment there is doomed. He is also marching on Anchorage and it looks bad there. He is just visiting though. I have serious doubts he can sustain troops there for very long. That supply line is long and painful and I have no less then a dozen submarines on station now to make it more so.

Luginville is now a level 4 base and I sent in the B17s. They will strike that big juicy airfield at Lunga next turn. Sadly not enough of my P 38s were ready, but 3 of them will be aloft to keep his fighters somewhat occupied.

I have to admit. Given my near surrender to him two weeks ago. This was one of the more satisfying turns I have had against an opponent in game in a very long time. Yeah it really was just a pinprick. But to actually hurt him and gut one of his combat divisions over a bit of desert (I still have zero idea why he would commit that many troops to take Port Hedland) it doesnt get better then that.

Nice strike! Looks like that convoy was under-escorted as well as lacking air cover. Amazing what stringbags can do when there is no AA and no fighters to dodge! Please don't use your P-38s as escorts for the bombers - they will be easily shot down in the initial diving pass of the Jap CAP. They are not very manueverable[sp?], being designed for high altitude and speed rather than dog fighting.

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

Nice strike! Looks like that convoy was under-escorted as well as lacking air cover. Amazing what stringbags can do when there is no AA and no fighters to dodge! Please don't use your P-38s as escorts for the bombers - they will be easily shot down in the initial diving pass of the Jap CAP. They are not very manueverable[sp?], being designed for high altitude and speed rather than dog fighting.

I have taken them off escort duty per your suggestion. I have a destroyer raider group headed to lunga this turn...and they are flying cap for them.

Port Hedland and Adak fell last nite. Not much of a surprise given the amount of troops he poured into each battle. He has troops also pouring into anchorage now. They are a long way from home and I have submarines in the area now.

I am all but positive that the only naval air forces he has off anchorage are CVEs. While still dangerous not a match for my fleet carriers. I have formed a air task force at Pearl with two of my carriers (one of them is still refitting in the yards) and they are headed north to seek an engagement. I also have formed a surface battle group at San Francisco built around the Warspite and they will head north. I have already been to strike is positions in Alaska from Kodiak which he did not take and I have a level 3 airfield there. Naval and air forces in the area are slowly sorting their way to Alaska. Should be fun.

My aussies continue their march north, should be a major battle brewing as according to recon he has at least 5 units of an unknown nature on the road in front of me. I have a single B17 group bombing them right now, more to come as soon as the airfield gets to level four (about two more weeks I think) and then the real fun starts.

Okay I admit I am feeling pretty grouchy so pardon my bitching for a moment.

Question for those who are reading.

What are you feelings regarding paratroopers and fast transport invasions.

I have never run into this in my games before...but how he uses his paratroopers feels incredibly gamey to me. I don't know maybe Im bitching because I am having my ass soundly kicked...and am just frustrated but I just watched him drop yet another SNLF fragment on a dot hex pinning my aussies in place. It's beyond frustrating. I have never had another opponent use them the way he does...is this an exploit that needs a house rule or par for the coarse?

He also uses fast transports to make amphib landings. Again feels pretty gamey but I can almost see being able to do that. Not sure if I should let it go, I think it works well and fast but, its not exactly the most realistic use of fast transport.

I'm with CanoeRebel on the paratroop drops - you have to try to drop the whole unit, not just a fragment. It is hard to police because sometimes not all the transport aircraft fly and you get a fragment dropping, but the idea is you can't split it up and drop it in several locations. You know that a paratroop drop gives ALL the enemy troop in the hex double the AV in the attack that day? It is very gamey to exploit this by splitting the para unit and dropping at several locations. As for dropping behind the lines to sever communications and supplies - that is what they are designed for! Small units should be placed along the LOC to guard against their attacks. Just one more headache for the defenders.

Fast transport TFs can usually only carry lightly-equipped units - can't load many vehicles on an APD or DD! The Japanese can also use cruisers and large minelayers and some very fast merchant ships that can carry guns and vehicles. They unload much faster with the landing bonus but once it expires they take days to unload heavy equipment. All this implies that the troops cannot take on tanks until regular cargo vessels bring in guns and tanks of their own. It is good to put some tanks at key locations.

Amid all these attacks it helps to keep in mind that what he is doing to you, you can do in return whenever and wherever you get the right tools!

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

I'm with CanoeRebel on the paratroop drops - you have to try to drop the whole unit, not just a fragment. It is hard to police because sometimes not all the transport aircraft fly and you get a fragment dropping, but the idea is you can't split it up and drop it in several locations. You know that a paratroop drop gives ALL the enemy troop in the hex double the AV in the attack that day? It is very gamey to exploit this by splitting the para unit and dropping at several locations. As for dropping behind the lines to sever communications and supplies - that is what they are designed for! Small units should be placed along the LOC to guard against their attacks. Just one more headache for the defenders.

Fast transport TFs can usually only carry lightly-equipped units - can't load many vehicles on an APD or DD! The Japanese can also use cruisers and large minelayers and some very fast merchant ships that can carry guns and vehicles. They unload much faster with the landing bonus but once it expires they take days to unload heavy equipment. All this implies that the troops cannot take on tanks until regular cargo vessels bring in guns and tanks of their own. It is good to put some tanks at key locations. Amid all these attacks it helps to keep in mind that what he is doing to you, you can do in return whenever and wherever you get the right tools!

Good point. I guess I just never did this kind of thing as the japanese player so I'm expanding my attack knowledge.

Another busy weekend of bad news for me. He has used paratrooper fragments (which he refuses to acknowledge the gameyness of) to make a land grab in Alaska. Good for the goose and gander and all that. I did not understand his move to Anchorage without securing Kodiak to his rear. Needless to say I have been running Maraiders out of Kodiak and pounding his troops at Anchorage. He has no land base air in the area which has made the strikes milk runs. He did move his carriers back to the area (they may have been there all along) and if signint can be believed he is now prepping his 1st division for a landing at Kodiak. I have moved a pair of Avenger squadrons into Kodiak to harass him but Kodiak is his for the taking. I have many many marines prepped for the return to Alaska. We are on the "clock". If I am going to move that direction I have to do it before winter and I have to wait until his carrier force of doom has moved off station. I had hoped to land Marines at Kodiak. But it will be gone before I can. Whittier is the likely landing target now.

More updates later today.

Suffice to say we have achieved a standoff in Australia, I managed to go around his flank in china and grab some territory there...temporary but I hope I am annoying him with my chinese units now.

I have a small surface group headed north to Lunga where he has at least a couple cruisers waiting for the return of my destroyer raiders. My task force is well covered by P-38s and I hope to have a nice naval battle waiting for me when I get home from work.

I have moved Blens up to Akyab and have begun to strike the Rangoon at night. He has 100 plus fighters there and no bombers...but those fighters are flying at night.

It should be noted that I am positive he is awaiting a naval air response off of Kodiak. Not happening. I can be patient. He has to come off station sooner or later with his carriers...They can't stay out there forever. According to sighting reports he has two different groups patrolling of Kodiak right now. One is a CVE group. The other is likely two to three Fleet carriers. Either way I will wait him out.

It should be noted that I am positive he is awaiting a naval air response off of Kodiak. Not happening. I can be patient. He has to come off station sooner or later with his carriers...They can't stay out there forever. According to sighting reports he has two different groups patrolling of Kodiak right now. One is a CVE group. The other is likely two to three Fleet carriers. Either way I will wait him out.

That was one of my thoughts about the situation - that he is trying to force a carrier encounter up there. You are wise to hold back. As for bringing the marines to Kodiak - I'm not sure I read you right. The winter conditions apply to amphib landings at an enemy base or dot hex [either side] because you do not have use of a port. Kodiak has a port and you can land your marines with no problems after winter starts. Your comment that he may have left by then and your plans to land in Whittier leave me confused about how you see this unfolding. I thought the idea was to build up Kodiak, bomb the enemy mercilessly throughout the winter and interdict any attempts to resupply or rescue them?

Looking forward to the fireworks report from Lunga - I love this game for the naval battles more than any other aspect.

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

It should be noted that I am positive he is awaiting a naval air response off of Kodiak. Not happening. I can be patient. He has to come off station sooner or later with his carriers...They can't stay out there forever. According to sighting reports he has two different groups patrolling of Kodiak right now. One is a CVE group. The other is likely two to three Fleet carriers. Either way I will wait him out.

That was one of my thoughts about the situation - that he is trying to force a carrier encounter up there. You are wise to hold back. As for bringing the marines to Kodiak - I'm not sure I read you right. The winter conditions apply to amphib landings at an enemy base or dot hex [either side] because you do not have use of a port. Kodiak has a port and you can land your marines with no problems after winter starts. Your comment that he may have left by then and your plans to land in Whittier leave me confused about how you see this unfolding. I thought the idea was to build up Kodiak, bomb the enemy mercilessly throughout the winter and interdict any attempts to resupply or rescue them?

Looking forward to the fireworks report from Lunga - I love this game for the naval battles more than any other aspect.

I would absolutely love if he left Kodiak alone and attempted to supply his troops in Alaska. I already have enough submarines in the area that he could walk to Kodiak without getting wet.

I tend to doubt (and based on sigint) that he is going to leave Kodiak open. That being the case then I can see me having to land troops using roughly the same invasion route he used...ie Whittier. I am already building up airbases at Yakutat (level 2) and Sitka. If I can get an air base to Yakutat then I could operate Dive Bombers out of it and make life interesting for him given he appears to have zero ground base air in the area.

I honestly believe this is a hit and run raid. Mostly to keep me busy (and keep himself entertained.) and he has no intention of trying to stay in Alaska. Which is why the Rob superhighway continues to move troops and aircraft to the south pacific.

Day two of the attacks and my boys claimed to have put 3 bombs into the cruiser Mogami.

All in all a nice run. Moved what was left of both squadrons out of Kodiak as I expect a landing any day, but moved a Dauntless squadron in...their turn.

I'd pay real money for torpedos that detonated. 8 runs on his shipping off of alaska in two days...two whole hits. Very disappointing.

The brewing surface battle at Lunga did not as his surface force fled (well I like to think they fled) the area before mine arrived. His nells attempted to attack my departing warships on their leg home.

I have sent the US 32 Infantry division north to help with the fight, but they aren't exactly crack. Really the only good thing happening here is the B 17s are taking a toll on his troops. I have armored units moving along the flanks to protect him (he loves surrounding me) and soon Katherine will be the center of a bit of a battle.

Most players seem to find that supply is too slow to support a fight at Katherine, so they pull back to Tennant Creek and let the Japanese come to them. By the time the IJA get there [bombed all the way] they are having the same supply movment problem and are much easier to kill. With your tank units, you might be the one doing the surrounding.

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

I have a level 1 airbase with patrol craft at Carnarvon now and they spotted a transport at Port Hedland. With his carriers otherwise occupied I had no problems unleashing the Royal Navy again. I considered sending in the battleships but, with more then 10 transports sunk and the cost of 1000 troopers for him. The damage was done. My carriers are retiring south again out of harm's way.

Most players seem to find that supply is too slow to support a fight at Katherine, so they pull back to Tennant Creek and let the Japanese come to them. By the time the IJA get there [bombed all the way] they are having the same supply movment problem and are much easier to kill. With your tank units, you might be the one doing the surrounding.

I had been doing this but he is content to just sit and wait for me. I have backed off again as I just don't have the combat power in the area yet...he still controls the skies and is pounding daly from the air, until I can get fighters with longer legs in the area I will have to be content to bomb him with my fortresses.

Actually remain pleased here with everything BUT my submarines whose torpedoes continue to be laughable... I think he has spread himself thin and it is showing off Australia.

I landed Marine Paras at Valdez who promptly flipped Cordova. I just opened up two airbases, one at Yakutat and the other at Whitehorse bomber capable. I am airlifting the rest of the 1st Marine Para to Yakutat. If my recon shows zero troops at Whittier or Seward I am sending in the marines. I suspect that the troops he is hitting Kodiak with came from the same group of troops he marched on Anchorage. The two divisions he has there are beat up and while they will take Kodiak...they are struggling to do so due to their beat up nature. Another week and I will be able to hit Kodiak from the air with more then a pinkprick. I also believe he has withdrawn his carriers to the west, though I still see a small cap over Kodiak when my bombers move in. I remain just stunned that he didn't bring land base air to this party. Clearly this wasn't something he intended to have any staying power.

I do have carriers to the far south east but I will continue to keep them away from this fight until IM sure his have departed ...can't afford the losses.

... Another week and I will be able to hit Kodiak from the air with more then a pinkprick. I also believe he has withdrawn his carriers to the west, though I still see a small cap over Kodiak when my bombers move in. I remain just stunned that he didn't bring land base air to this party. Clearly this wasn't something he intended to have any staying power.

I do have carriers to the far south east but I will continue to keep them away from this fight until IM sure his have departed ...can't afford the losses.

Whoa! I don't want to see any of those aberrant attacks!

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

... Another week and I will be able to hit Kodiak from the air with more then a pinkprick. I also believe he has withdrawn his carriers to the west, though I still see a small cap over Kodiak when my bombers move in. I remain just stunned that he didn't bring land base air to this party. Clearly this wasn't something he intended to have any staying power.

I do have carriers to the far south east but I will continue to keep them away from this fight until IM sure his have departed ...can't afford the losses.

My secret is out as he stuck Whitehorse with carrier bombers. He did some damage caught some bombers on the ground but nothing too terrible and I moved everyone south to Prince Rupert for the time being.

I do have a squad of fighters/dbs/and tbds at Yakutat ready to fly and at least one of his two carrier groups is well within range. Maybe tonite's turn.

Very happy to see one of my fleet subs do something...finally. Maybe a few more will pop his shipping in the Gulf of Alaska, make this little side operation somewhat costly.

Weather permitting, marine paras should drop on Anchorage. I have reconned it multiple times now and there appears to be no, none, zip, zilch, enemy troops there. I suspected as much. He simply has too many troops (3 divisions now) trying to take kodiak.